O.C. lawmakers champion bills raising penalties for fentanyl dealers and accountability from online platforms

Orange County lawmakers and people close to victims of an ongoing opioid epidemic rallied Friday behind two bills in the California state Assembly ...

April 30, 2023
4:26 AM

Orange County lawmakers and people close to victims of an ongoing opioid epidemic rallied Friday behind two bills in the California state Assembly that would increase jail time for people convicted of selling fentanyl and require proprietors of social media platforms to retain records that might enable authorities to track dealers down. Assembly Bill 955 would raise the penalty for the possession of fentanyl for sale from between two to four years in jail to a three- to nine-year sentence. AB 1027 would require social media companies that wind up facilitating untraceable marketplaces for illicit drugs to keep records of communications on their platforms that would be accessible to law enforcement investigating drug dealers.

Eric Licas